The Brotherhood Episode Tag Take 2
by fischergirl
Summary: The story I almost burned. Drama version of why Sheppard hides his smarts and how McKay finds out about them. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**The Brotherhood Episode Tag Take 2**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Stargate: Atlantis or any of its characters or story lines. No infringement is intended upon anyone or any subsidiary connected to Stargate: Atlantis or its parent series, Stargate: SG-1 or Stargate The Movie. I'm poor; you'll get nothing out of me!

**Summary:** The story I almost burned. Drama version of why Sheppard hides his smarts and how McKay finds out about them.

**Rating:** Teen

**Warnings:** Few mentions of abuse, nothing graphic or gross. Minor cussing.

**Category:** Friendship/Drama

**Author note:** This story lasted 6 months in a wad of paper I just couldn't burn and so I took said wad with me and revised it. I will be posting 6 chapters over the next 2 weeks. PLEASE REVIEW! Authors thrive on reviews like plants do on miracle grow. You can reach me at at the doorway to the cafeteria, Major John Sheppard quickly scanned the thinning crowd for one Rodney McKay. Not catching sight of him, the Major relaxed and ambled over to stand in the now-short line.

Picking up a ham and swiss sandwich and a glass of Athosian juice, John decided he didn't feel very social at the moment, and so set out for the furthest corner in the cafeteria where he put his tray down. Halfway through his blessedly quiet meal, he caught sight of a fast moving object in the periphery of his vision. _Oh, not again,_ he thought as the very man he'd been avoiding since the disaster of a mission to P3X-422 spotted him and began to make his way over.

It wasn't that John disliked Rodney. In fact, most days he even considered him a great friend if slightly high-strung and mouthy. But since their last mission when Rodney had discovered that John had not only taken the Mensa, but also _passed_, he'd been hounding John nonstop. And to be honest, John really didn't want to discuss the reasons behind the decision to take the damn test in the first place, which of course happened to be one of the _very_ persistent questions that Rodney wanted answered.

Finally reaching John's table, Rodney puffed out triumphantly at having finally cornered the ever-elusive Major. Really, much more searching and Rodney might have started to believe that John was _purposely_ evading him.

"Ah, Major. There you are. I wonder if you had a few minutes to spare?"

Seeing his chance, John slowly started getting to his feet with a, "Well, actually…"

"Good." Rodney interrupted, sitting down at the table and snatching the remaining half of John's sandwich from his tray and scarfed it down in three bites. _Maybe he's hungry? _John silently mused as he sat back down with a quiet, but heartfelt sigh. _Who knows,_ _maybe Rodney isn't here about Mensa._

"I actually wanted to know a few things about you taking the Mensa."

_Or not._

"What?" John asked resigned.

"Well, no offense, but I never took you for an intellectual kind of guy. I also somehow doubt that you really changed that much over the years, so I can only assume that your personality was relatively about the same when you decided to _take_ the Mensa in the first place." Realizing he was starting to ramble, he concluded with, "I guess what I'm really asking is what in God's name compelled you to take it. And how old _were_ you, by the way?"

John might have even answered his questions fully if not for the comment about him not changing over the years. Rodney couldn't have known he'd hurt John's feelings by echoing the voice of his stepfather all those years ago, but it stung just the same.

John stood up abruptly and picked up his tray, turning to leave when Rodney voiced a surprised, but hesitant, "Major?"

Still not turning towards Rodney, but forcing his posture into a more relaxed looking stance, he took a steadying breath before looking over his shoulder and flashing a quick, small lopsided smile as he said, "Well, it was either take the Mensa or go to a Juvenile Detention Center for a while."

With that said, John walked away from the temporarily speechless McKay.

He watched John drop off his now empty tray and exit the cafeteria before he could come up with a suitable comeback, but it was too late. _Juvenile Detention Center?_ There was definitely a lot more to this story and Rodney could never resist a mystery.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note**: For the sake of this story (and my sanity), this story will be going off of the **assumption** (not planning on writing about it) that Rodney got to _keep_ the ZPM in Brotherhood, that it's already hooked up and ready to go, and now they're just waiting for the Wraith or the Deadalus (spelling?) to arrive for a showdown. Rodney is still working to find something that may help in the battle, but he's not frantic about it like he was after Brotherhood. Hopefully that should give a good enough reason why no one seems especially worked up about the coming Wraith ships.

McKay glanced around nervously again. If anyone had seen him, they would have known he was up to something. But at 2 in the morning in his darkened and locked personal quarters (on threat of sedation from Beckett), it was highly unlikely that someone would stumble across him. His plan had sounded so simple in his head, but he hadn't counted on his guilty conscience.

He sat behind his desk with a laptop in front of him, but it wasn't his laptop. Oh, no. It was Dr. Elizabeth Weirs, who would be pissed to say the least if he didn't finish his task and put the laptop back in her office before dawn.

_Focus McKay, focus!_ He was a freakin' astrophysicist! Hacking into someone's personal computer should be child's play to him. _This is all John's fault,_ he told himself. If Sheppard hadn't made that unexpected declaration at lunch the day before, he wouldn't be in the position he was currently in. _Why couldn't she have had this hooked up to the rest of the network! This is all her fault too!_

_**BEEP!**_

Rodney jumped a foot, smacking his knee into the top of the desk at the unexpected noise and looked at the computer screen, which was now scrolling through its startup menu. _I'm in!_ His excitement over his accomplishment drove away the last of his guilty conscience.

Leaning forward, he typed in 'Personnel File: Sheppard, John' and hit 'Enter.' A second later and a picture of John along with his service record popped up. Rodney, however, knew that everyone on the expedition had extremely detailed files going back over their whole lives if one knew just where to look. It was with no small amount of satisfaction that he clicked in the lower left corner of the screen to reveal a hidden icon. Clicking it again, and John's service record disappeared and was replaced with a huge collection of personal information. He scrolled down until he neared the beginning of the record and froze when a picture passed by. Hitting the up key a few times brought him face to face with a battered and furious looking John of maybe 15.

Rodney knew he shouldn't read it, knew it was personal to John and that he'd be livid if he ever found out, but he just couldn't help himself as he began to read what looked like a Police Report and an officer's personal findings. The report stated that John had shot his stepfather, grazing his arm, for 'Reasons Unknown.' When the Police had arrived, his stepfather had been bleeding in the kitchen while a bruised John was standing in the living room still holding the gun. His mother was present when Police arrived, but refused to make any comment and John's sister was at a slumber party down the street. Not even John himself would give a reason for his actions or make a statement on his behalf. John's stepfather wanted to press charges and the officers present had no alternative except to arrest John.

The next file in the record was a transfer form of one John Sheppard to the California Juvenile Correction Center dated the same day. Then a copy of the court hearing followed along with a recommendation from the psychiatrist assigned for John's case and several statements from his teachers at school. They all went to the effect of saying that he wasn't a violent person and that several of them believed him to be a closet genius. Apparently the Judge must have seen something in John, or believed the various accounts from people who knew him, because the sentencing was lenient for the crime of aggravated assault. Mandatory intelligence testing and 6 months in the Juvenile Detention Center while undergoing anger management classes until he was placed in foster care. John's only other option would be to remain in the JDC until he was 18; a little over 2 ½ years. When John asked why he had to go to foster care instead of returning home, the Judge had looked him in the eye and told him his mother had voluntarily given up custody of him to the court, and now he was a ward of the state. The Judge then prompted him again to choose between his dismal options.

Flashback _John stood there, looking lost and depressed, head down and shoulder's slumped. At the Judge's continued prompting, he paused; looking down, he quietly gave his answer. His life would never be the same._


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note**: Since you guys have given me so many nice reviews, I've decided to update a day and a half early as thanks to all of you. That's still no reason not to _continue_ to review however. HINT HINT Yes, this is a slightly shorter chapter, but there were so many details in it, I figured I'd make it into its own chapter. That, and I'm lazy.

_So he chose the six months, huh? _Rodney scoffed. _Like he really had a choice in the matter! _He shook his head and hit the scroll button a few more times until he saw the results of the intelligence test, which was well into 'genius level,' and the Mensa, in which he had scored in the 99th percentile, the same score as Rodney. The only difference was John had taken it 4 years earlier in life than Rodney had. He decided not to think too much about it and continued scrolling, even though all his original curiosities had been satisfied. He refused to quit after going so far already and learning so much.

He glanced briefly at a certificate of completion for anger management classes and paused at the next document. _Adoption papers?_ He wondered, startled. It hadn't even occurred to him that John was adopted. He delved further into the record to see that he had _indeed_ been adopted by Major Thomas S. Baker, US Marine Corp., immediately following the end of John's term in the JDC. The interviewer for the adoption had handwritten a short note at the bottom saying to the effect that John's biological father had been great friends with Major Baker before he died in the line of duty when John was 5, and that he thought a rigid military role model would be perfect for a still-emotionally-scarred John.

Rodney was dying to know how that arrangement had worked out, but upon scrolling once again, found a copy of a Masters Degree for mathematics from Northwestern University instead. Quickly doing a little math himself, he determined that John had to have been around 21 or 22 when he graduated. _He must have tested out of High School and immediately started college. _Rodney mused. _Just like me._

For reasons not listed in the file, John joined the military barely weeks after having graduated. _Curious._

The last of the documents in John's personal record were a death certificate for Major Baker, approximately two years after John enlisted, _heart attack, _and one for John's mother dated a few months later, _cirrhosis of the liver from alcohol poisoning leading to death. _

The record stopped at this point with a note saying the rest of the record continued into his military service record, but Rodney had no interest in that, so he turned off the laptop and sat there in the dark for a few minutes, thinking over the hell that had been Sheppard's earlier years. He still didn't know what _specifically_ had happened to compel John to snap and shoot his stepfather, but after looking at he picture he could hazard a pretty accurate guess. The idea that someone could hurt an innocent child sickened him and he found himself wishing he could go back in time just to slug the son of a bitch. _And I thought I had a rough childhood! Poor John._


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: This is a really short chapter, but it kind of fit by itself, so I'll post the next chapter within a few hours of this one to make up for it. Because they now have the ZPM, they've already contacted Earth once and the Deadalus (spelling?) is already enroute. Remember: review!

Noticing the time, McKay quickly shut down the computer and snuck it back into Dr. Weir's office. Deciding he wouldn't be able to go to sleep, even for the couple of hours he still had before establishing their second contact with Earth for supplies, McKay walked out onto the balcony and watched the sun come up, his thoughts whirling through his head.

Not long after he arrived, he realized he was no longer alone. Still distracted, he merely glanced over to see Elizabeth gazing out over the ocean a foot away.

Turning her head towards him, she asked, "something on your mind, Rodney?"

Rodney scowled as he tried to think of a way of presenting his dilemma without revealing too much. Deciding to play it safe, he began, "I was talking to John yesterday, and he made some comments that gave me pause. I find myself wanting to help him somehow, but find myself woefully inadequate in matters such as these. I wouldn't even know how to _start_ a conversation about it with him."

Elizabeth contemplated for a moment.

"Rodney, in college I had this roommate that I _knew_ was keeping something bottled up. But every time I tried to talk to her, she shut me down."

Rodney looked up at her, curious now.

"So, what happened?"

Elizabeth turned back to look him dead in the eye and smiled wickedly.

"I bought 2 bottles of vodka, one filled with water for me, and got my roommate good and drunk before asking her again."

Rodney looked shocked and his tone indicated as much as he asked, "You want me to get John _smashed_!"

Now it was Elizabeth's turn to look surprised.

"I didn't say that at all. I was just telling you about a roommate I once had in college."

Rodney caught on and grinned ruefully.

"So did it work out? With your roommate?"

Elizabeth's smile turned sad before she nodded.

"Yeah, it worked. I helped her through some bad times. But remember Rodney. Don't ask questions if you're not ready for the answers."

Rodney held her eyes for a moment before peering back over the vastness of the ocean again. He heard Elizabeth quietly exit the balcony, leaving him alone with his thoughts once again. Was he ready for the answers to his questions?


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note**: I hope you guys are still reading and liking this story! To be honest, I totally thought this story would get slammed, cause not even _I_ liked it when it was finished. But I decided to give it a chance and did some major revision. Lucky for me, I couldn't go through with burning it (literally). Review! Oh yeah, just one more chapter to go, but it's a big one.

Major Sheppard sat on the city's East Pier, watching as the moon seemed to rise from the water on the horizon. It was one of his favorite places to just sit back and think. But he wasn't thinking tonight. He was just trying to unwind enough to get to sleep.

His day had been rather uneventful. Well, not really. He'd been running all day trying to keep up with his duties on Atlantis. It had seemed everyone had a problem that only he, or his gene, could fix. No, his day had not been uneventful. It had seemed like it though, because he had seen neither hide nor hair of Rodney McKay all day. In fact, the last time he recalled seeing him was yesterday at lunch. And since he usually ended up seeing Rodney at least 2-3 times a day, his absence was very conspicuous. _Did my parting statement yesterday really scare him off that much?_ But that didn't make any sense. What he had said had been a very John Sheppard thing to say. _Maybe Rodney just got started on a new project,_ he thought to himself.

He had no idea how right he was.

Rodney stood nervously holding two bottles of the amber colored alcoholic beverage that the Athosians made on the mainland. Well, actually, only one was the actual beverage. The other he had marked with a black dot near the top so he knew to drink only from that one. He'd claim germs and something impressing sounding about contamination to make sure they didn't drink from each other's bottle. Because if they did, John would surely realize that Rodney was trying to pull a fast one. For in his bottle was simply water with brown food coloring and even vanilla extract to give it the right smell. As long as he kept John away from his bottle, the Major would never know the difference.

Rodney had located his friend on the pier by asking around in the control room, but he was still hesitant to disturb him. He waited as patiently as possible, for Rodney anyways, until John stood and stretched. _Well, now I have to go through with it. It would look really suspicious to be wandering around at night on the furthest pier with two bottles of liquor. _He would just have to suck it up.

John was now making his way toward the doorway, and coincidentally, Rodney as well. _Okay, now I just have to get him to go along with this._

When John was close enough to almost be able to see him standing in the doorway, he started walking forward like he had just arrived. Looking John in the face, he schooled his features to look both surprised and pleased.

"Oh, John. Just the man I was looking for."

"You were?" John asked skeptically. It looked like Rodney was looking to party with the bottles of booze and the shit-eating grin on his face. Though why he would have sought out John instead of Zelenka, his preferred drinking partner, puzzled John.

Rodney frowned at the tone, but decided to ignore it, seeing how the situation would look to John.

"Yes, surprising as that is. I was wondering if you wanted to join me for a drink in my office."

John's eyebrows rose.

"You have an office? I thought the lab was your office?"

Rodney grinned proudly.

"As of this morning, I claimed one as my own. It's still pretty messy, but I figured you wouldn't mind. And besides, I feel like toasting our new ZPM and my new office. It's not far from here. Well, not as far as your quarters." He amended.

John thought for a moment and then smiled.

"Sure McKay. It's been a long while since I got shit-faced with a friend."

McKay gestured down the corridor in a 'no, you first' motion. As soon as John was ahead of him, McKay smiled devilishly at his back. _Gotcha._


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note**: This is the last chapter of this story. I am very doubtful of doing a continuation/tag/tangent/whatever for this story, mostly cause I have no idea what it would be about and I'm really kinda lazy. Please give me one last review though, of how the story as a whole was done. I probably won't write another story for a while, again, because of the laziness issue. However, I want you all to know how much I have appreciated the reviews I have gotten! They really motivated me to actually finish this in a reasonable amount of time.

After the 7th round, John's tongue loosened and he started telling Rodney things he never would have, had he been sober.

"I didn't _mean_ to dye her underwear tie-dye, but it was too funny to tell her that. So I told her the Easter Bunny did it!"

Rodney shot some his drink out of his nose he was laughing so hard.

"And Teyla _believed_ you!"

"Well, not at first. She asked Ford if dying things was part of what the Easter Bunny did, and he tells her, 'sure, he does it for kids around the world, leaving chocolate and colored eggs behind.' Her eyes got huge and she's like, 'he will return?' and Ford's all, 'yeah, every year if you've been good.' She took off at a sprint all the way back to her quarters to see if the Easter Bunny had left her anything else!"

This time, Rodney fell off his chair from laughing so hard, hitting the ground and bringing the chair toppling onto him, laughing even harder at this. John joined in as well, terribly amused at his friend's supposed drunken antics.

McKay couldn't believe some of the things John had done, especially on Atlantis. Who knew his sarcastic, serious-minded friend was such a troublemaker and practical joker? He was also a lot funnier than Rodney had ever suspected, more than ever when he was drunk and had no inhibitions telling him not to confess to some of the things he had done.

Picking himself and the chair off the floor, he poured them both another round as John started another story, involving a past CO and his wife, a male stripper and latrine duty for 6 months.

Half the bottle and 2 hours later, Rodney was convinced that his friend was completely and utterly smashed. Smashed enough that Rodney was reasonably sure he could get John to tell his story without having to worry about him remembering any of it in the morning. And on the off chance that he did, Rodney could always blame it on the copious amounts of booze ingested, and claim only vague memories of the night's conversation.

"John?" He asked, trying to rouse his half unconscious team leader, who was currently dozing with his chin touching his chest.

"Whaaa?" He slurred badly.

"John, tell me about Mensa. What made you take it?"

Rodney of course already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it from John's point of view. John was quiet for long enough to convince Rodney that he'd passed out, when John suddenly seemed to shake a little of his drunkenness off and began talking with much less of a slur.

John told him the much-abbreviated version of what Rodney had read. McKay noticed he gave no reason for shooting his stepfather and skipped completely over being adopted and the subsequent deaths of his adopted father and his mother, years later. He concluded with joining the military shortly after graduation.

"John?"

"Hmmmm?" Answered Sheppard with his eyes closed.

"Why did you shoot your stepfather?"

John turned bleary red eyes on Rodney. He reached over and grabbed Rodney's bottle of booze and took a swig before Rodney could stop him. Screwing up his face, John said, "This tastes weird."

Hoping to distract him from further thoughts on _that_ subject, Rodney repeated his question quickly. This time, John answered.

"Cause I was tired of him walloping my mom. I refused to let it happen that night, so he walloped me instead. Get this; while he's smacking the crap out of me, he tells me, _I'm_ a worthless piece of shit that'll never change. Pot, meet kettle."

"What happened next?"

"When he was done with me, he tried going after my mom again. I refused to let that happen. I grabbed his gun from the closet and shot him in the arm. The police thought my shot went wide, but it didn't. I was only trying to wing him. Despite him being a piece of crap that deserved to die, I didn't have it in me to kill him. He never laid a hand on my younger sister and he only hit me that night. He and I never got along before that, and I hated him for hurting my mom, but it wasn't enough to turn me into a killer. My mom called 911 when she saw me with the gun, but by the time help had arrived, he'd convinced her to keep quiet. She was more whipped mentally than I could ever be physically. When she chose him over me that night, I just didn't care anymore what happened next, so I kept quiet too. Not like they'd ever believe me. My mom didn't have any marks on her at the time and it was my word against theirs. So I let them arrest me."

"Where's your family now?" Rodney asked, genuinely curious.

"My adopted father and my mom are dead. My sister is still alive but we're not close. She wrote me every month to tell me that things had gotten better since I left. That our stepfather didn't hit mom anymore, just yelled at her a lot. My sister was 8 when I left. She was 14 when mom died. She blames part of her death on me because I didn't come home when mom started drinking. I couldn't. She was still married to that son of a bitch, who happens to still be alive by the way. Apparently, he finished raising my sister like she was his own. Maybe trying to make up for being such a dick, but whatever the reason, she's loyal to him more than me."

"Did you talk to her before coming to Atlantis?"

"I tried. Went all the way to San Francisco to tell her, maybe even reconcile, but there was still too much anger there. She said she loved me, but it would take more time to forgive me and shut the door in my face. I ended up walking to a park by the bridge trying to decide whether to come here or stay and try to mend things between us. I ended up leaving it to chance. Flipped a coin. That's how I ended up here." John finished, utterly depressed now.

McKay stood up and walked around the desk over to where John sat. He knelt down to look John in the eye and put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. Perhaps it was the defeated air John had about him that Rodney had never seen before, or the fact that Rodney doubted very much that John would remember any of it in the morning, but Rodney felt daring enough to put himself on the line and tell him how much it meant having him as a friend.

"The only family I have left is my sister too. We never talk. In fact, since coming here, I've come to realize that there are different kinds of family. So your family sucked growing up, but you have a new one here on Atlantis. You're the brother I never wanted but really needed to keep me normal. We're family now. Do you understand?"

John leaned forward, reached a hand out and pinched Rodney's cheek going, "awwww, I love you too Rodney." And promptly threw up on McKay's shirt as he passed out.

Looking down at his ruined uniform, Rodney sighed. He lifted one of John's arms over his shoulder and pulled his very drunk friend to his feet. Mumbling to himself about how disgusting he smelled and the indignity of it all, he helped John stagger to his quarters, where he let him sink down to the mattress, pulled off his shoes, covered him with a blanket and got a bucket to put by the side of the bed.

"As my new unofficial brother, I hope you aren't planning on throwing up on me often."

Rodney hit the light switch and left a snoring John. He had to get cleaned up before seeking out Elizabeth to tell her not to expect John at that morning's briefing.

As the doors slipped shut behind Rodney, John turned over on his side and smiled, content. _There are more than one kind of family, and I've got one right here in Atlantis. _He had made the right decision coming here after all.

The End


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